Only a human being is created in the image and likeness of God - intelligent, articulate, endowed with goodness, free will, and the capacity for divine love, always ready to seek and serve the truth, writes His Holiness and Beatitude Ilia II, Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia, in his Christmas Epistle.

“The Christ was born with astonishing humility and simplicity, bringing the light of life to those who believed they were created in God’s image and strive for salvation.

The Christianity was the faith that had passed down from Adam through generations by the first fathers, patriarchs, prophets, and the righteous, teaching us that we were not accidental beings, nor were we created for death, but called to eternal bliss and union with God.

Among the Gentiles, deep thinkers felt a spiritual hunger. They were not satisfied with human-made legends about various “gods”, sensed their falseness, and awaited the true, authentic, and supreme.

Such was the case in Georgia. Upon the arrival of Christianity, most Georgians rejected paganism and joyfully embraced the Gospel from heaven. This was Georgians’ firm civilizational choice, becoming a pillar of national consciousness. Christ had assumed our body, our nature, and bore the burden of our lives (except sin); the timeless became temporal, the incorporeal became corporeal, the immortal became mortal, to save like through like and to proclaim to each of us.

Despite everything, my image is not entirely erased in you; my capabilities are also yours, and I am ready to participate in your transformation and salvation.

The Christ brought the laws of paradise into our reality - commandments, the traits of the citizens of heaven - so that we may recognise sin in our existence and erase it with repentance, thereby transforming our death into the beginning of eternal bliss.

We must heed our words and deeds, the voice of conscience, coexistence with society, the divine wisdom revealed in the Holy Scriptures, and by the grace of the Church established by the Savior born in Bethlehem and the sacraments performed therein, we may become partakers of the Lord’s resurrection and ascension”, - reads the epistle.

In his message, the Catholicos-Patriarch emphasizes the importance of loving humanity and rejecting selfishness.

“Fear of death is characteristic of a degraded individual. This fear compels individuals to pursue various means of prolonging life, inventing methods and constructing an illusion of prosperity, ultimately in vain.

Such pursuits often lead to greater mistakes and exacerbate the existing spiritual crisis. A person unable to recognize that the fear of death stems from sin cannot understand that a soul enslaved by sin unconsciously fears encountering God, resulting in tremors of dread.

Instead of turning away from immorality and seeking to purify the soul, these individuals often succumb to nihilism and find refuge in atheism, though there are many other reasons for disbelief.

For these individuals, life is merely a journey from birth to death, with existence concluding at death.

Consequently, they perceive concepts such as evil, goodness, hypocrisy, faithfulness, envy, love, and immorality as mere ordinary feelings. They feel no sense of responsibility to others or God, for they lack belief in an afterlife or eternal values”, - adds Ilia II.